The DMCA complaint from the NRA looks legitimate, it's the decision from DigitalOcean to shut down the entire Surge network instead of just taking down the offending content that seems disproportionate.
This left DigitalOcean with two options: leave the droplet up and potentially open themselves up to legal risk from the NRA and potentially Smith & Wesson as well; or turn off the whole droplet and let Surge sort this mess out.
a) We told Digital Ocean that if push comes to shove we will remove the domain not resist and risk having all our customers sites taken down. We explicitly stated this.
b) We had reason to believe it was still an open issue and being discussed. Including filing a counter claim (at their request).
We were fighting for due process, not fighting to prevent the takedown.